THIS WEEKEND
Jennifer Lopez topped the box office with her new romantic
comedy The Wedding Planner pushing
two-week champ Save the Last Dance
into the bridesmaid position. The weekend's other new release, the cheerleader
film Sugar & Spice, opened to weak
results while last Sunday's Golden Globe winners experienced the smallest
declines in the top ten. With the Super Bowl taking millions of men out
of the marketplace, female-skewing pictures led the way.

Sony enjoyed a number one opening for The
Wedding Planner, starring Lopez and Matthew McConaughey, taking
in $13.5M over the Friday-to-Sunday period, according to final
studio figures. The studio launched the PG-13 film very wide in 2,785 theaters
(the most ever for a January opener) and averaged a good, but not stellar,
$4,851 per location. The story finds the popular actress as a workaholic
wedding planner who falls for the fiance of her client. Sony supported
the movie with an aggressive publicity campaign with the two leads making
countless media appearances over the past couple of weeks. Singer-actress-dancer
Lopez also released her second studio album "J. Lo" last week
and aims to become the first entertainer in recent memory to hit number
one on both the box office and album sales charts simultaneously.

"This shows that Jennifer Lopez can
really open a picture and bring out her loyal set of fans," remarked
Jeff Blake, marketing and distribution head for Sony Pictures. The audience
was split evenly between those over and under age 25 and 55% were female,
according to Blake. The Wedding Planner,
which earned poor reviews from critics, enjoyed a moderate 24% boost on
Saturday. Budgeted at $28M, the romantic comedy aims to be the top date
film leading up to Valentine's Day. Lopez last starred in the sci-fi thriller
The Cell which also opened at number
one with $17.5M last August.

After two weeks on top, the teen romance
Save the Last Dance dropped 36% to
$9.8M finishing the weekend in second place. After 17 days, the Paramount
release has brought in an impressive $59.3M. The soundtrack to Save
the Last Dance has also been a hot seller and currently sits
at number three on the Billboard album sales charts.

Down a notch from last weekend, Cast
Away claimed third place with $8.1M sliding just 27%. The Tom
Hanks smash earned the superstar a Golden Globe award for best actor in
a drama last Sunday and has grossed a remarkable $193.2M to date allowing
the Robert Zemeckis-directed film to climb to number 34 on the all-time
domestic blockbuster list.

Also parlaying its Golden Globe wins into
a strong hold was the narcotics saga Traffic which
took in $6.5M, down only 24%. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the ensemble
drama won trophies for best supporting actor (Benicio Del Toro) and screenplay.
With $56.2M collected thus far, Traffic is
now the highest-grossing film in company history for USA Films as well
as its former components Gramercy Pictures and October Films.

Following a week of layoffs and restructuring,
New Line Cinema got some more bad news as its cheerleader pic Sugar
& Spice debuted with only $5.9M. The dark comedy opened
in 2,150 theaters and averaged a not-so-cheerful $2,740. Sugar
& Spice appealed primarily to young females who were more
enraptured by The Wedding Planner and
Save The Last Dance this weekend.

After winning a pair of Golden Globes for
best foreign language film and best director, Ang Lee's Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon enjoyed the smallest decline in the top
ten slipping just 17% to $5.1M. Starring Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, and
Zhang Ziyi, the Sony Classics release has watched its domestic total soar
to $44.4M. The distributor plans to add more theaters ahead of the announcement
of Academy Award nominations on February 13.

Dropping 41% in its second weekend was Snatch,
starring Brad Pitt and Benicio Del Toro, which collected $4.7M. After ten
days, the Sony release has grossed $15.7M. The studio's Finding
Forrester grossed $4.6M, off only 31%, giving the Sean Connery
drama $35.7M to date.

Slipping to ninth was Paramount's What
Women Want which grossed $4.4M pushing its blockbuster cume
up to $168.4M. Rounding out the top ten was Sandra Bullock's Miss
Congeniality with $4.2M and $93.3M thus far.

A pair of films fell out of the top ten.
New Line's political thriller Thirteen Days
declined 42% to $3.4M lifting its total to $24.7M. Carrying a $80M pricetag,
the Kevin Costner drama should conclude its domestic run with a disappointing
$35M. The buddy comedy Double Take
took its cume to $23.2M after 17 days. Produced for $24M, the Buena Vista
release looks to finish with around $30M.

Lions Gate expanded its comedic thriller
Shadow of the Vampire from 7 to 513
theaters and grossed $1.9M. The John Malkovich-Willem Dafoe starrer averaged
a decent $3,682 per venue and has taken in $2.5M overall. Vampire
will next widen on February 16 after the Oscar nominations are announced.

Compared to projections, The
Wedding Planner and Sugar & Spice
both opened a few notches below my respective predictions of $18M and $10M.
Shadow of the Vampire was near my $3M
projection. Save the Last Dance and
Cast Away were both close to my forecasts
of $9M and $8M.

The top ten films grossed
$66.7M which was up 59% from last year when Eye
of the Beholder opened in the top spot
with only $6M; and up 28% from 1999 when She's
All That debuted at number one with $16.1M.

This column is updated three times each week
: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary),
Sunday (post-weekend analysis with
estimates), and Monday night (actuals).
Source : Exhibitor Relations,
EDI. Opinions expressed in this column
are those solely of the author.